Closure latch



O 1, 1968 D. A. B uTTs 3,403,934

CLOSURE LATCH Filed May 16, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet l I N VEN TOR.

1*] ATTORNEY Oct. 1, 1968 D. A. BUTTS 3,403,934

CLOSURE LATCH Filed May 16, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORNEY United States Patent Office 3,403,934 Patented Oct. 1, 1968 3,403,934 CLOSURE LATCH Donald A. Butts, Saginaw, Mich., assignor to General Motors Corporation, Detroit, Mich., a corporation of Delaware 7 Filed May 16, 1966, Ser. No. 550,184 7 Claims. (Cl. 292341.16)

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A vehicle rear deck lid is swingably mounted for movement between open and closed positions relative to a vehicle body compartment. The deck lid and the body are provided with latch means including a latch bolt and a striker engageable therewith to latch the deck lid to the body. The striker is slidably mounted for movement between an extended position for latching engagement with the bolt and a retracted position for moving the deck lid to fully closed position. A fluid pressure device and biasing means are provided for alternately moving the striker between extended and retracted positions. A valve control mounted on the striker is engaged upon latching engagement to control the fluid pressure device to effect movement of the striker to retracted position.

This invention relates to closure latches and more specifically to a closure latch for moving a closure or deck lid between partially open and fully closed positions.

One feature of this invention is that it provides a closure latch having striker means extendible for latching engagement with bolt means in the partially open position of the closure and retractable to move the closure to fully closed position. Another feature of this invention is that the striker means are retractable by resilient means and extendible by fluid pressure operated means. A further feature is that the fluid pressure operated means are controlled by valve means actuated by the bolt means.

A better understanding of this invention may be had by reference to the following specification and the attached drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a partial rear perspective view of a vehicle body embodying a closure latch according to this invention;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken on the plane generally indicated by line 22 of FIGURE 1 and showing the striker means in retracted position;

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view taken on the plane generally indicated by line 33 of FIGURE 2; and

FIGURE 4 is a view similar to FIGURE 3 showing the striker means in extended position.

Referring now to FIGURE 1 of the drawings, a vehicle body includes a rear storage compartment that is closable by a closure member or deck lid 12, conventionally mounted adjacent its forward edge for swinging movement between a closed position, as shown, and an open position, not shown. A closure latch 14 according to this invention comprises latch means 16 mounted on lid 12 and striker means 18 mounted on a rear body panel 20. Referring now to FIGURE 2, lid 12 is sealed to the body in its fully closed position by a lid-mounted seal 22 compressively engaging a raised lip 24 of the body panel 20.

As shown in FIGURES 3 and 4, the latch means 16 includes a conventional bolt 26 engageable with a striker bar 28 of striker means 18. Bar 28 is secured to a vertically reciprocable housing 30 including a lower projection 32 received within a fluid motor 34. Reciprocation of housing 30 is guided by a pair of guide brackets 36 and 38. Bracket 36 is generally U-shaped and has a pair of angled flanges 40 that are rigidly secured to a flange 42 of motor 34. Bracket 38 is generally fiat and includes an offset portion 44, a clearance slot 45 for flange 42, and a pair of angled supports 46 for flange 42. Both guide brackets 36 and 38 have lateral flanges that are bolted at 47 to a rectangular mounting bracket 48 attached to body panel 20.

Referring now to FIGURE 4, motor 34 includes an upper housing 50 and a lower housing 52 having the flanges thereof joined to flange 42 of the upper housing. The outer periphery of a diaphragm 54 is clamped between the housing flanges and defines a pressure chamber 55 with housing 52. Diaphragm 54 is centrally clamped between the housing flanges and defines a pressure chamber 55 with housing 52. Diaphragm 54 is centrally clamped between a piston 56 and a lower flange 58 of a cup member 60 which are both secured to projection 32. A coil spring 62 is confined within cup member 60 and reacts against housing 50 to normally bias housing 30 downwardly to its position of FIGURE 3. Pressure fluid selectively supplied to chamber 55 moves housing 30 upwardly to its position of FIGURE 4, as will be described.

The flow of pressure fluid to chamber 55 is controlled by valve means located within a stepped cavity of housing 30. This cavity includes a lower chamber 64, an intermediate chamber 66 and an upper chamber 68, one end of which is closed by a cover plate 70. A flanged metal cup 72 includes an aperture 74 formed in its flanged head. Cup 72 is located within the chamber 66 and seats against a lower valve plate 76 having an apertured frusto-conical portion which opens to chamber 64. Plate 76 clamps the periphery of an annular flexible valve member 78 against a lower annular shoulder of the chamber 66. The flange of cup 72 seats against a washer located on a shoulder of chamber 66 and the cup is secured in place by staking to secure plate 76 and member 78 to housing 30.

An actuator 80 has one end thereof slidably mounted in the plate 70 and includes a frusto-conical rigid valve plug or member 82 secured to the other end thereof and a frusto-conical flexible valve member or plug 84 slidably mounted thereon. Valve member 84 is biased against valve member 82 by a spring 86 which seats against a spring retainer 88 secured to the actuator. Another spring 90 seats between the head of cup 72 and retainer 88 to bias actuator 80 to its position shown in FIGURE 4.

When the striker means is in its extended position, as shown in FIGURE 4, chamber 66 is connected to a fluid supply line 92 by chamber 64 and an angular passage 94 in valve member 82. Pressure fluid is transmitted to the chamber 55 through a passage 96 to bias piston 56 and cup member 60 upwardly until the cup member engages the upper end of housing 50, as shown. Valve member 82 and the pressure in the chamber 66 bias valve member 84 upwardly into seating position within aperture 74 of cup 72 to close chamber 68 from the supply of fluid.

When deck lid 12 is moved to a closed position, an extension 102 of the latch housing engages and depresses actuator 80 as latch bolt 26 engages striker bar 28. Depression of actuator 80 compresses springs 86 and 90 and moves valve plug 82 downwardly within valve member 78 until passage 94 no longer connects chambers 64 and 66. Fluid pressure in chamber 66 maintains valve member 84 seated within aperture 74 until spring 86 has been compressed sufliciently to overcome this fluid pressure. Spring 86 then unseats valve member 84, which slides along actuator 80 into engagement with valve member 82. At this instant, the valve members are in the position shown in FIGURE 3 and chambers 66 and 68 are connected to exhaust line 100 through opening 74. As fluid exhausts from chamber 55 to chamber 66 through passage 96, spring 62 moves piston 56 downwardly within chamber 55 to retract the engaged latch means 16 and striker bar 28 and thereby move deck lid 12 to fully closed position, as shown in FIGURE 2.

When it is desired to open the deck lid, latch means 16 are released from the striker bar 28 in any conven tional manner, whereupon the seal pressure and counter balance pressure of the deck lid move it to a partially open position disengaging extension 102 from actuator 80. This permits spring 90 to move the actuator 80 upwardly from its position of FIGURE 3 to its position of FIG- URE 4. Passage 94 thereupon interconnects chambers 64- and 66 to again pressurize chamber 55 and move housing 30 to its extended position shown in FIGURE 4 until the cup member 60 again seats on the housing 50 to locate the housing 30 in position preparatory to the start of another cycle of operation.

The fluid circuitry has not been shown since it is of conventional configuration. The circuitry includes a source of suitable pressure fluid, such as a pump or reservoir, which is connected to supply line 92 and to exhaust line 100. A11 accumulator may be placed in the circuitry to provide a limited number of pressure charges should the source be cut oil.

While only a preferred embodiment of this invention is shown and described, many modifications are possible without departing from the scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. In combination with a closure member movable between open and closed positions with respect to a support member, a closure latch comprising, striker means, latch means, means mounting the striker means on one of the members for movement between extended and retracted positions, means mounting the latch means on the other of the members, the latch means and striker means being latchingly engageable upon movement of the closure member toward closed position, resilient means biasing the striker to one of the positions, fluid pressure operated means for moving the striker means to the other of the positions against the action of the resilient means, and means controlled by latching engagement of the latch means with the striker means for controlling the fluid pressure operated means to effect movement of the latched striker means to retracted position and move the closure to closed position.

2. The combination recited in claim 1, wherein the striker means are mounted on the support member and the latch means are mounted on the closure member.

3. The combination recited in claim 1, wherein the fluid pressure operated means includes a fluid pressure operated device, and the controlled means includes valve means responsive to latching engagement of the latch means with the striker means to selectively connect the device With a supply of pressure fluid to extend the striker means or to exhaust pressure fluid from the device to permit the resilient means to retract the striker means.

4. The combination recited in claim 3, wherein the valve means includes a first valve movable between a first position permitting the supply of pressure fluid to the device and a second position halting the supply of pressure fluid to the device, a second valve movable between a first position preventing the exhaustion of pressure fluid from the device and a second position permitting the exhaustion of pressure fluid from the device, and valve actuating means responsive to the said latching engagement to move both the valves from the first positions thereof to the second positions thereof to exhaust pressure fluid from the device to permit the resilient means to retract the striker means.

5. The combination recited in claim 4, wherein the valve actuating means includes first means for moving the first valve from first to second positions, time delay means for moving the second valve from first to second positions after the second valve has moved to second position, and second means responsive to unlatching disengagement of the latch means from the striker means for moving both valves from the second positions thereof to the first positions thereof to supply pressure fluid to the device to extend the striker means.

6. The combination recited in claim 5, wherein movement of the second valve from first to second positions is opposed by fluid pressure, and the time delay means comprises spring means having the force thereof progressively increased by the first means during movement of the first valve from first to second positions, the spring means overcoming the force of the fluid pressure and moving the second valve from first to second positions after the first valve has moved to second position, thereby delaying the exhaustion of pressure fluid from the device until the supply of pressure fluid thereto has been halted.

7. The combination recited in claim 5, wherein the first means is movable with the first valve between the first and second positions thereof, and the second means includes spring means biasing the first means to the first position thereof, the first means being engageable by the latch means upon said latching engagement for movement by the latch means to move the first valve against the action of the spring means to the second position.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,037,502 9/1912 Lowell 292-144 2,888,287 5/1959 Taylor 292144 2,941,614 6/1960 Forbush W 292l44 3,247,724 4/1966 Price 292-34l.16

MARVIN A. CHAMPION, Primary Examiner.

E. J. MCCARTHY, Assistant Examiner. 

